The '80's and antiquated technology

[Pilot]

Best headphones you'll ever own I promise, I got them on eBay for $50!!! There's plenty available on there so don't buy the garbage Best Buy carries ever again. They're from '82 btw and unlike the Sonys I bought last year I can hear out of both sides! I use them for everything: CDs, video-games, etc

Totally. I know what you mean about the crap that Best Buy (Wurst Buy) has- I wear headphones a lot when on the computer and have gone through several purported 'quality' sets which were nothing but cheaply made and EXPENSIVE. My best set is a set of studio earcups from the late 70s (the ones that look like huge half orbs on the sides of your head, my god they sound fucking fantastic; more so than than the Bose (Blatantly Overpriced Sound Equipment) headphones.

Technics CD player from '87, mostly metal, kicks the shit out of any other CD player I've ever owned. Oh and btw it's MADE IN JAPAN and that's why it still works and always will better than ANYTHING China or India can ever build.

The old Cd players were built like tanks. I have one from circa 85 in my living room that still works great... that is, the times I actually use it since I don't listen to a lot of CDs. The weak point in modern CD/DVD readers are cheap lasers that burn out after a while. Mine's a Teac.

I have a TV purchased in 1988 (give or take a year). To this day it works like a charm. Not a room away is an HDTV, my dad's. The difference in picture quality is slight, and there's nothing wrong with my vision either. HDTV makes things sharper, admittedly, but the difference in overall quality isn't steep enough for me to spend the extra money. Maybe I just got lucky and got a really nice TV.

I lost count of the number of customers who, when dropping off their NEW HDTV for repair, would bring up in some fashion their 25-year old set that's still running in the kids room/family room/kitchen. I can personally vouch for the quality of the electronics from the era The late 90s is when stuff started getting crap.

...dare I mention once more the 1959 RCA color tv I use in my living room daily?

[Sekto Springs]

I lost count of the number of customers who, when dropping off their NEW HDTV for repair, would bring up in some fashion their 25-year old set that's still running in the kids room/family room/kitchen.

Exactly. For all the "improvement" in picture quality, you're paying out the ass for a flimsy, untrustworthy piece of machinery. My dad has had more problems with his HDTV in a year than my classic TV's had in it's entire lifespan.

And I stand by that HD tv's only have slightly better picture quality. When you try to play non-HD channels or movies on an HDTV, it looks terrible. When you play them on a normal TV, they look fine. Perhaps because the image is projected differently. I don't know. Justin?

[Emesdee]

HDTV makes things sharper, admittedly, but the difference in overall quality isn't steep enough for me to spend the extra money.

Not to mention that once you're ten minutes into a movie, it's not like you are really going to notice that superior picture quality anyway. Watching dramas in HD really adds nothing, and watching special effects movies, all it does is highlight flaws.

Now a piece of eighties tech that has turned out to be crap is my NES. But then again, I'll blame that on the terrible North American design that has too many moving parts. My Atari 2600 still works like a charm though, and those carts are tough.

[Pilot]

And I stand by that HD tv's only have slightly better picture quality. When you try to play non-HD channels or movies on an HDTV, it looks terrible. When you play them on a normal TV, they look fine. Perhaps because the image is projected differently. I don't know. Justin?

Yeah, as a general rule of thumb standard def pictures look CRAP on an HDTV, while they perfectly acceptable if not damn good on an "old" standard def set.

Not to mention that once you're ten minutes into a movie, it's not like you are really going to notice that superior picture quality anyway. Watching dramas in HD really adds nothing, and watching special effects movies, all it does is highlight flaws.

Now a piece of eighties tech that has turned out to be crap is my NES. But then again, I'll blame that on the terrible North American design that has too many moving parts. My Atari 2600 still works like a charm though, and those carts are tough.

Good point! I also think the desired effect of HD is to 'pull you' into another reality, and this I am wary of. We're already a bunch of disconnected boobs as it is.

Don't know if you know but FYI you can change the cartridge slot in your NES to solve the problems inherent with it. The little contact fingers get weak and make bad or intermittent connection which causes the blinking/gray screen problem. Part is under $10.

[Emesdee]

Don't know if you know but FYI you can change the cartridge slot in your NES to solve the problems inherent with it. The little contact fingers get weak and make bad or intermittent connection which causes the blinking/gray screen problem. Part is under $10.

Didn't know that, but thanks a lot. I would have considered a toploader, but those are rare and expensive.

[Hazel-Rah]

Sekto: It's not just the picture quality that I like, it's how much smaller and lighter HDTVs are, plus I think they just look nicer HOWEVER I wish they came in more than just black as it seems like that's the only color electronics come in now.

It's not that I don't like today's technology, it's the quality of how today's products are made that I absolutely revile, I'm always worrying about my shit breaking and I'm a paranoid motherfucker as it is. I mean like with vintage amps if something goes wrong you could service it by changing a transistor with today's stuff if something goes wrong you have to replace a whole circuit board and by that point it's just cheaper to buy a new TV, I was surprised to hear that people still take their TVs in for repair, Pilot, it's become such a throw away society. I'm happy to hear that some people still stand by their purchases.

[T-nex]

Damn, you guys would be fools to think that modern technology isn't made crappy on purpose.
People soon found out that good quality just isn't profitable! ... Unless it's some really friggin expensive snob-brand!

[Hazel-Rah]

Well then we need to stop asking the corporations for garbage and let them know we are willing to pay higher prices for quality instead of high prices for junk. People want to upgrade every year, so why should Apple build the iPod to last?

Oh as for gaming consoles, it's a joke how hot they get especially the PS3, they need to start using heat sinks in game consoles instead of puny electric fans that don't even work.

[GABBITS OWN]

Well then we need to stop asking the corporations for garbage and let them know we are willing to pay higher prices for quality instead of high prices for junk. People want to upgrade every year, so why should Apple build the iPod to last?

Oh as for gaming consoles, it's a joke how hot they get especially the PS3, they need to start using heat sinks in game consoles instead of puny electric fans that don't even work.

I hate high prices... Like the ps3 $560 australia( not slim)
Xbox 360 (slim) Australia $420...

[Hazel-Rah]

Yeah but adjusting for inflation people used to pay more for electronics (considering what you're getting), difference is their shit still works.

[Sekto Springs]

People want to upgrade every year, so why should Apple build the iPod to last?

People only want to upgrade because their subconscious is raped on a daily basis by advertising. An iPod from two years ago really isn't any better than the most recent model, it's just a fashion statement.
Nobody actually needs to be able to hold 5000+ songs in a two-inch piece of plastic, but they have to buy it because television, radio, the internet, billboards, and the sides of buses tell them they do. Even though playing and storing music is it's primary function, that's not why people keep buying them, otherwise they'd buy one and be done with it.

[T-nex]

People only want to upgrade because their subconscious is raped on a daily basis by advertising. An iPod from two years ago really isn't any better than the most recent model, it's just a fashion statement.
Nobody actually needs to be able to hold 5000+ songs in a two-inch piece of plastic, but they have to buy it because television, radio, the internet, billboards, and the sides of buses tell them they do. Even though playing and storing music is it's primary function, that's not why people keep buying them, otherwise they'd buy one and be done with it.

I wish this wasn't true, and you were just talking out of your ass... But it really is true

I mean seriously.. Who would spend millions on marketing if it didn't work? It does work, it's part of my education too. We're learning to become sneaky fuckers.
I'd like to see myself as semi-immune to marketing though. I'm very aware of it, which makes it a great shield at all the unneeded subconscious brainwashing, but some of it probably still gets to me.
But mostly I research what I buy .. and stuff.

Eh.. Perhaps I should get an old pair of headset. I really don't doubt your words when you say those sennheiser headset are great. All the new headsets I've bought have degraded during maybe a month. Even my expansive one. ima kill em!!!

[OANST]

I'd like to see myself as semi-immune to marketing though.

You think that Lady Gaga is pretty. You aren't immune to marketing.

[T-nex]

You think that Lady Gaga is pretty. You aren't immune to marketing.

This would be true if I thought her music was the greatest thing ever.

If you don't think Gaga is pretty, then you're gay!

[MeechMunchie]

If you don't think Gaga is pretty, then you're gay!

She has a penis. Invert the genders.

[T-nex]

She has a penis. Invert the genders.

Ooh! Well that makes it just that more fun for me =D!!!

[OANST]

This would be true if I thought her music was the greatest thing ever.

If you don't think Gaga is pretty, then you're gay!

She markets her image much more effectively than she does her music.

[T-nex]

She markets her image much more effectively than she does her music.

Does she?
I found her pretty with the long hair with bangs(It looks good on girls) ... She hasn't looked that pretty to me lately.
Also I liked how she looked a little awkward in her one video.

So yea, don't tell me how her marketing works left and right. I already know what her marketing strategy is.

But as I said. I'm semi-immune. I'm sure some marketing slips past us all, since we all grew up with it.

I dunno if Lady gaga is hot cos of marketing, or if its just cos I like her type. I liked her style before she came into fame.
I don't think that everyone who finds her hot is just cos of the media and whatnot. I mean.. She has boobs, and at least looks like a girl.

Anyway.. Appliances!!

Edit: Fuck.. I hate gaga-discussions.

[OANST]

So yea, don't tell me how her marketing works left and right. I already know what her marketing strategy is.

Sorry. I didn't realize that you were privy to her business decisions.

[T-nex]

Sorry. I didn't realize that you were privy to her business decisions.

Oh fuck off.

[OANST]

Way ahead of you.

[Strike Witch]

You and me, we could write a bad romance.

[Emesdee]

Even though playing and storing music is it's primary function, that's not why people keep buying them, otherwise they'd buy one and be done with it.

Then they give the old ones to kids or other family members, it's just a continuous cycle until you have eight year olds walking around with cell phones because their parents need the newest iPhone.

[Nate]

In Russia, it's the 1980's every day.

[Pilot]

My thesis: Exchanging something technologically advanced for something that's technologically complicated is not progress.

I believe that something which is truly advanced is so out of its simplicity.

[Hazel-Rah]

i think lady gaga has a nice voice

[GABBITS OWN]

Nice voice... some of her songs are good

[Hazel-Rah]

yer a black truth indeed, I heard she had released an album on vinyl, I'll definitely be buying that.

[Sekto Springs]

Wanna know the best thing about old tv's?
You can stack em. Try and do that with your flat screen ass tech.

[Nate]

How many TVs do you really need in a vertical pile?